


Won't Let You Go

by squadrickchestopher



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Babies, Domestic Fluff, Gen, Orphanage, Steve Rogers Cries, Steve Rogers Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, and he drags steve along with him, holding babies, thats it, thats the whole fic, they hold babies, tony volunteers at an orphanage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23956867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squadrickchestopher/pseuds/squadrickchestopher
Summary: Prompted by a conversation I saw on tumblr. Tony convinces Steve to go hold babies at an orphanage with him.
Relationships: Steve Rogers & Tony Stark
Comments: 50
Kudos: 153





	Won't Let You Go

Tony and Steve don’t hang out together very much, so it’s kind of a surprise when Tony asks Steve to accompany him to the orphanage.

“To the what?” Steve asks, sure he heard that wrong.

“The orphanage,” Tony repeats. “I’m volunteering there, and I promised the kids I’d bring you one of these days, and you’re not busy with other stuff, so…” He gestures at the window. “Come with me?”

Steve thinks about saying no, but Tony’s right. He doesn’t have anything better to do. So he just nods, and five minutes later, they’re walking down the streets of New York City.

“I gotta say, Tony, I never pictured you doing this kind of thing.”

“What? Why not?” He sounds almost offended.

“Because,” Steve says, jogging to keep up with Tony’s strides. He’s taller, but Tony is excited, and he’s walking fast. “The whole merchant of death thing? The big tough guy image? You just never strike me as a volunteer-at-orphanages kind of guy.”

“So? I have multiple interests. I’m like an onion. I have layers.”

Steve furrows his brow. “Is that...is that a _Shrek_ reference?”

Tony claps. “Capsicle, I’m so proud of you I could cry. Look at you, recognizing movies. You’re almost a real boy.”

“Blame Barton for that one,” Steve says. “He made me watch it with him a few days ago.”

“Surprising no one. What did you think?”

“It was okay.” Steve nearly runs into him as he stops in front of a nondescript red brick building. “This is it?”

“Yeah.” Tony is practically bouncing with excitement. “The kids are gonna _love_ you, I’ve been promising to bring you here for weeks.”

Steve looks at it with some trepidation. “I don’t know about this, Tony. I’m not really a kid kind of guy. They’re...fragile.”

Tony waves a hand. “They’re tougher than they look. Besides, you’re not going to spar with them. You’re there to hold a few babies, read a story in a funny voice. Just spend time with them. That’s all they want.”

Steve takes a deep breath. “I guess I can do funny voices.”

He follows Tony inside. The receptionist greets him by name and blushes at Steve, who politely offers a hand. “Steve Rogers,” he says.

“Pleased to meet you,” she says. “I’m Jenna. Let me show you around.”

“I got it, sweetheart,” Tony says. He presses something into her hand—a chocolate bar, Steve can see the wrapper—and kisses her on the cheek. “You just sit back and relax.”

Steve follows Tony down a hallway. “It’s nice in here,” he says, feeling surprised. He’d been half-expecting dark prisons and beaten-down kids in grey smocks or something. But the walls are colored, and there’s natural light, and it’s actually very homey. He’s impressed.

“You were expecting a dungeon?” Tony snorts. “Of course it’s nice, I give them a lot of money every year. Then they let me hold babies. It’s a great arrangement. Here we are.” He stops in front of a set of double doors with the cheery label “0-3 years” in a flowery script. “Ready?”

“Sure.” Steve tries to look relaxed.

“You’ll love it,” Tony assures him. He pushes the door open.

They’re greeted by general chaos. Fifteen or so toddlers are running around a giant playroom, throwing toys and giggling and shouting. Spread among them are tired-looking adults, doing their best to prevent anyone from seriously injuring themselves.

One little girl runs past him with a cowboy hat, giggling manically while a boy wearing an Snow White dress chases after her. “That’s MINE!” he screams.

Tony swoops down and grabs the girl, lifting her up. She laughs and claps as he spins her around. “Tara,” he says, mock-stern. “Did you steal Bobby’s hat?”

“Yes,” she says, grinning at him.

Tony takes it off her head and puts it on his own. It’s ridiculously small, and both kids burst into a fit of giggling. “It don’t fit!” Bobby says, pointing.

“I don’t know,” Tony says. “I think it fits just fine. What do you think, Steve?”

Steve snorts and shakes his head. “Not really your style.”

“Ah, you’re breaking my heart. Fine.” He swipes it off his head and tosses it onto Tara’s. It slips down and over her eyes. “Go get her, Bobby.”

Tara shrieks and starts running. Bobby chases her.

“See?” Tony says, grinning at him. “Easy.”

“Yeah,” Steve says. “Easy. Sure.”

“Mr. Stark!” One man calls. He comes over and shakes Tony’s hand. “Good to see you, my man. How you been?”

“Jed, I told you to call me Tony.” He sighs and tilts his head at Steve. “This is the friend I said I would bring.”

“Captain America,” Jed says formally, and Steve has to fight back a grin.

“Steve Rogers,” he says. “Just Steve is fine.”

“Nice to have you with us. I heard you’re reading to the kids later today?”

“Yeah,” Steve says. “Yeah, Tony convinced me.”

“Good. They’ll love it.” He looks at Tony. “You’re here for the babies, I assume?”

“It sounds ominous when you put it like that, but yes. We’re here for the babies.”

“You know where they are,” Jed says. “Thanks for coming, Steve.”

Tony leads him to a room in the back. “This is the baby room,” he says. “A little quieter than the unbridled chaos of toddlers.”

Steve winces as another one of them shrieks. “Quiet sounds good,” he says.

Tony pushes open the door. This room is much quieter. Smaller, too. Everything is tiny, like minuscule size, and Steve immediately feels out of place. “Sit,” Tony says, directing him to a chair.

Steve sits. There are seven babies in here. Two of them are sleeping in a crib behind a sheer curtain. One is being fed by a lady in a rocking chair, who smiles fondly at Tony as he moves around the room. The rest are playing on the floor, crawling around and biting soft toys and making cooing noises. It’s unexpectedly cute.

“Here,” Tony says. He scoops one of them up—a girl with a shock of blond hair—from her little mat on the floor. “This one is Anna. She’s my favorite. Hold her for a moment, will you, because I want to get her twin—“ he gently lays her in Steve’s arms, then moves away again, picking up a baby in a purple onesie. “This little guy is Howie, he’s also my favorite.”

“They’re all your favorites,” the woman says.

“Plot twist,” Tony grins. “They’re all my favorites. I really like babies.”

Steve looks down at the little girl in his arms. “Hi,” he tells her, unsure of what else to do. She’s so tiny in his arms, and he’s so afraid of hurting her. “Uh. I’m Steve Rogers.”

Anna blinks once at him, blue eyes full of confusion, and starts bawling.

“Oh god,” Steve says. “Oh my god. I—Tony! Tony, I broke her, I don’t know what I did. Did I hurt her?” The words tumble out in a rush as he sits frozen in fear, afraid to move and make it worse.

Tony laughs. “You didn’t hurt her, Steve. She’s a baby. Hold her head up higher.”

He tilts her up a little higher, adjusting his hold like he’s got an armful of glass rather than a human infant, and eases her into a more comfortable position. Anna blinks at him again, then whacks him in the nose with her tiny fist.

“Ow,” Steve says, eyes watering a bit. “You’ve got a little bit of a punch there, kid.”

Anna laughs.

The sound of it eases his heart, and Steve chuckles in relief. “Okay. We’re okay. You’re okay.” He adjusts her again, and she wiggles in his arms. “Hi, Anna. Hi. Okay. We’re doing this. I got you.”

Unexpectedly, he feels tears prick his eyes. “I got you,” he tells her again, and his voice breaks a little. “I won’t let you go.”

He looks up at Tony, who just nods sagely. “I know, man. I did the same thing my first time.” He kisses Howie’s forehead. “Can’t even talk, and you own me already, don’t you?”

Steve laughs. “Okay,” he says. “I can see why you do this.”

“Right?” Tony looks at the rest of them. “It’s cathartic, man. They don’t know about aliens, or terrorists, or Hydra, or anything else. They just want to be held and loved. It’s…” he trails off, looking down at Howie. “It’s pure.” His eyes go distant. “I know what it’s like to want that.”

“Your dad?” Steve guesses, letting Anna wind her fingers around one of his. He didn’t spend much time with Howard, but from the looks of it, he’s guessing that Tony didn’t either.

“Yeah,” Tony says. He clears his throat. “But anyway. We can save my tragic backstory for another time. There’s babies here.”

“Sure.” He knows better than to push Tony on that, and now’s not the time anyway.

“Anna likes the red rattle,” the woman says. “The one on your left, there.”

Steve looks around. “Oh, thanks.” He starts to reach for it, but Anna’s grip is surprisingly strong on his finger. “Let go,” he tells her, but she just makes a spit bubble at him and holds on. “Tony,” he says, tugging a little harder. “She won’t let go.”

Tony grins. “Sorry,” he says. “That’s her finger now. Them’s the rules. Nothing I can do about it.”

Steve looks down at her, marveling at how her hand can hold so tightly. He’s broken out of almost every single restraint there is, and yet he can’t pull his hand away from a tiny little infant. The world is cold sometimes, and full of as much cruelty as there is goodness. If she wants to hold onto something solid for a while, he’s not going to take that away from her.

“That’s okay,” Steve says. He looks at Tony and smiles, feeling a light warmth spread through him for the first time since waking up in this new world. “She can have it.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on [tumblr!](https://feedmecookiesnow.tumblr.com/)


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